Red Mosquito

Kevin Davis wrote:I kind of feel like I said everything I can think to say about all of these songs during my first few years of March Madness, but I will always pipe up for "In the Moonlight." It's maybe one of 10 Pearl Jam songs that I am always happy to hear, regardless of how interested I am in Pearl Jam in general at any given time or what my other transient listening habits are at the moment. Here is the quote pyramid into which I have apparently been compiling all of my thoughts about this song over the years, which unlike Joey I am more than happy to bore you with:

Spoiler: show

Kevin Davis wrote:As years go by this song seems more and more like the bell at the end of "The Polar Express": Many hear it and hear the generic sound of a rusty old bell, but those who can hear it, hear magic. It is one of a very few PJ songs that feels surrounded by a sort of tangible force to me. While there are some Matt Cameron compositional hallmarks throughout, unlike some of his other tunes I don't hear it and think "hmmm, these are interesting time signatures" or "wow, great bridge work," true though those things are; I'm just swept up by its total presence, overcome by all that entails, for better or worse.

This is what I had to say about this song a few years ago, and this is what I still say about it.

Kevin Davis wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:

LoathedVermin72 wrote:I still don't get "In the Moonlight". Why does everyone love it so much?

Magical. Evocative. Atmospheric. Sexy. Full of potent imagery. Ed sounds great. The band sounds great. I think it's a brilliant song.

I love how the slow, almost bluesy grind of the song plays against those ethereal multi-tracked vocals, all breaking in that tension-release chorus -- there's a duality to the song that causes you to feel like you're at once being stalked by something sinister and watched over by some kind of protective angelic force, and it stakes out a rare sonic and emotional space as a result. "A night bird is following you all the time" is one of my favorite images in the PJ canon.

One of my all-time favorite songs. The live version with Josh Homme is perfect.

Re: that last sentence, I'd encourage anyone still on the fence to check that version out for an earthier, less deliberate-sounding take on the song. Homme's ominous falsetto is the perfect foil to Eddie's low baritone, replicating the studio take's after-dark ambiance in a more natural setting. One of the few truly great post-2006 PJ live performances.

Our difference in opinion on this song has long been something of a joke between Stip and me, and reading him call it "emotionless" here, coupled with his take on it in the "Bushleaguer" vs. "Leatherman" thread, where he remarks that he prefers performances with a bit more flash and agility, highlights why we always seem to reach the same impasse. If your taste for emotion in a Pearl Jam song is restricted to the kind of sweeping catharsis you get from the songs on Ten and Vs. (which EV has attempted to recapture to varying degrees of success in the PRAMG years), where the volume and histrionics in the outward presentation are seen as varying in proportion to the singer's commitment to the words and sentiments, I can see where "In the Moonlight" would seem emotionless. But Pearl Jam have a lot of songs that are full of quieter, subtler, more nuanced emotions than those that are expressed through flash and filigree -- things like anxiety, confusion, peace, relief, etc. are emotions too, and ones that are as genuinely felt and expressed inwardly as feelings like anguish and rage are felt and expressed outwardly. Those emotions (anxiety, peace, etc.) are all things I feel at various moments through "In the Moonlight," though in somewhat abstract, intangible ways that don't necessarily tie directly to the content of the lyrics, and I credit the song for somewhat economically moving through such a spectrum of seemingly contradictory feelings in close to just three minutes. Songs like this tend to engage my brain and my reflexes over a longer period of time than others that are more explicit in their intentions -- they keep me guessing, keep me thinking, even after I've committed their more superficial elements to memory. And being a lover of Matt Cameron's writing and slightly off-center musical construction in general, the superficial elements would be enough for me to love this song even if none of the other stuff I just said applied.

I really love "In the Moonlight."

stip wrote:thanks for the reductive characterization of my musical sensibilities

stip wrote:I mean that is a preference, so it's something that makes me slightly less predisposed to like a song. But there are certainly songs that are going for it that don't do much for me (in the Ten/Vs era and now), just like there are songs that are quiet and introspective that are very powerful. This is starting from a place that I generally am less likely to reach for - but then ITM fails to offer anything to me once I do. A song like Nothing As It Seems tends to be a monochromatic performance by Eddie, but it ends up being a great song anyway - in part the music and lyrics provide some of the color that isn't there in the performance, but there is also nuance in the delivery and subtlety in the performance that make it work. None of that is here. I don't feel the atmosphere, the lyrics don't intrigue me, and at no point does Eddie drag me into his performance - through a shout or a whisper.